"You can't? Why, you've done it!" the fat man retorted, gruffly.
"I refuse to be left in the lurch this way. You must give more notice."
Slater shrugged, and without a word tossed his bulging war bag into the motor-boat which lay moored beneath him. His employer's face was purple with rage as he turned to Murray and the ladies, but he calmed himself sufficiently to say:
"This man is in charge of important work for me, yet he tells me you have hired him away."
"Tom!" exclaimed O'Neil.
"I never said that," protested Slater. "I only told you I was working for Murray."
"Well?"
"I hired myself. He didn't have anything to say about it. I do all the hiring, firing, and boosting in my department."
"I appeal to you, O'Neil. I'm short-handed," Gordon cried.
"I tell you he don't have a word to say about it," Slater declared with heat.